Under the cloud of five straight miserable seasons, Browns fans could use a ray of sunshine. This might be the most hopeful list out there as training camp approaches.

The top seven on it still are with the team.

It is our ranking of the Browns’ expansion-era, first-round draft picks in terms of relative value to the team. Obviously, in certain cases pertaining to more recent picks, projections come into play (overall draft spot included).

1, OT Joe Thomas, No. 3, 2007

If the team starts winning and he adds to his six Pro Bowls, he will be giving an August speech in Canton.

2, RB Trent Richardson, No. 3, 2012

He needs to be one of the league’s five best rushers. A franchise holds its breath.

3, QB Brandon Weeden, No. 22, 2012

If he breaks through, No. 3 might be too low. If not? Big trouble.

4, LB Barkevious Mingo, No. 6, 2013

His sunny disposition lights up a room. He had better be lighting up quarterbacks.

5, CB Joe Haden, No. 7, 2010

The team is 14-34 with as him as a shutdown corner. He needs to be more influential, starting now.

6, DT Phil Taylor, No. 21, 2011

He is hard to read since he was part of a 2012 season that was gone by the time he came back from losing eight games. He still has a big upside.

7, C Alex Mack, No. 21, 2009

He didn’t ask to be picked when the Browns could have had Clay Matthews.

8, LB Kamerion Wimbley, No. 13, 2006

He made 11 sacks as a rookie and started every game for the 2007 team that went 10-6. Forgetting the disaster of preferring him to Haloti Ngata, not a terrible pick.

9, C Jeff Faine, No. 21, 2003

He was a solid center, but not durable. Butch Davis should have fortified his line instead with Eric Steinbach, taken 33rd by the Bengals, making him a nice value in a weak draft. In 2006, Phil Savage signed LeCharles Bentley and Steinbach and traded Faine.

He helped the 2002 team reach the playoffs and complained about taking merciless beatings only once, after hearing derisive cheers when he was knocked out of a home game against Baltimore.

12, WR Braylon Edwards, No. 3, 2005

He isn’t the NFL’s only big disappointment picked at No. 3 (Akili Smith, Joey Harrington, Vince Young), but along with Warren, he certainly was Cleveland’s disappointment.

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13, TE Kellen Winslow Jr., No. 6, 2004

It has been eight years since Winslow and two friends rode their motorcycles to a Starboyz stunt show in Canton then headed north to a parking lot where Winslow tried to emulate the ‘boyz. Eight long years.

14, RB William Green, No. 16, 2002

The second half of his rookie year was an awakening. And then it was gone, leaving the question of why in the world Davis, who coached Ed Reed in college, picked Green over Reed.

15, DE Courtney Brown, No. 1, 2000

He left the league with 19 career sacks. Aldon Smith and J.J. Watt had more than that in 2012.

16, QB Brady Quinn, No. 22, 2007

This could be Weeden’s final resting place if his career develops like Quinn’s.

NEW BROWN TOUTS HARTLINE

Davone Bess, the new threat on the Browns’ receiving block, spent the last four seasons as a teammate of former GlenOak star Brian Hartline.

As fellow Dolphins wideouts, they helped beat Seattle 24-21 Thanksgiving weekend, right before the Seahawks became all the rage, finishing the regular season on a five-game win streak.

Bess wound up giving the Dolphins 61 catches for 778 yards. Hartline rode a 74-catch, 1,083-yard year to a big new contract.

“Hartline is a good dude, man,” Bess told us. “He’s a very solid, solid player. Very good route runner. Catches the ball really well. And very, very smart.”

Hartline upped his numbers from 35 catches and 549 yards in an injury-influenced 2011.

“Brian is known for asking the most questions in the meeting room,’ Bess said. “Even when it seems as if the question doesn’t matter, he’s asking. This dude is very smart.”

That’s part of what made them good teammates. Bess has quickly gained a reputation as the Browns most studious wideout.

Pierre Garcon, the wide receiver the Browns and everybody else wish they would have drafted before Indy grabbed him in Round 6 in 2008, could be one of the league’s most prolific receivers if his current team, Washington, gets Robert Griffin III back as the real RG3.

And if Garcon avoids the injury bug.

“Every year I’m looking to have a big year,” Garcon told us.

After missing six games in 2012, Garcon came back to give the Redskins 36 catches during their seven-game win streak to close the regular season. That included six catches from Kirk Cousins at Cleveland.

Garcon, who has racked up 3,129 receiving yards in the last four years, is grateful to his Mount Union head coach, Larry Kehres.

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“I would probably tell him, thank you for putting me on the right path,” Garcon said. “Thank you for everything.”

NOT ALONE ON THE MISS

The Browns weren’t the only team that guessed wrong on which wideout available in 2008 would pan out.